The dove shots are all great, and while I don't have any to share, I finally tracked down the little guy in my yard who keeps waking me up in the morning and serenading me with his hoots each evening. He was way, way up high, but I snagged him with my 300 + 2x with (OOPS!) circular polarizer. It was dusk but I didn't think it was THAT dark! Luckily the IS allowed me to handhold at 1/30s allowing me to use ISO 1600 instead of 25600! Note to self - remove CIR-PLs from all lenses before I pack my lenses to come home. Now I need to get a better shot of him - tripod / Better Beamer will be at the ready for his next visit!

The dove shots are all great, and while I don't have any to share, I finally tracked down the little guy in my yard who keeps waking me up in the morning and serenading me with his hoots each evening. He was way, way up high, but I snagged him with my 300 + 2x with (OOPS!) circular polarizer. It was dusk but I didn't think it was THAT dark! Luckily the IS allowed me to handhold at 1/30s allowing me to use ISO 1600 instead of 25600! Note to self - remove CIR-PLs from all lenses before I pack my lenses to come home. Now I need to get a better shot of him - tripod / Better Beamer will be at the ready for his next visit!

I have spent the last couple of days in Hong Kong and have just arrived in Shanghai, where G**gl* is inaccessible. I put the Tamron 150-600mm on a 5DIII through its paces under conditions where I could get really close. Here is a selection from a morning's shooting. All have been reduced to 1200 px width for uploading, each with a 100% crop so you can see the original.

The processing for all has been the same. Taken in RAW, processed in DxO with the only changes done is noise reduction using PRIME and adjusting exposure (no sharpening). The exported jpegs were cropped in PS and sharpened using USM at 100% with 0.9-2 px radius.

I don't know the names of most so please help me by identifying them (I can't G**gle*, remember).

Unlike mackguyver I had an easier time with another owl (my first): Just this past Sunday I was scrutinizing this nondescript yet unusually noisy tree. I saw quite a few Japanese White-eyes, Light-vented Bulbuls, and maybe a third species, all seemingly in a state of excitement, over food or what I couldn't tell. By chance I noticed this silent, immobile lump of grey. I had binoculars but no camera, and no way to fetch one any time soon. It was with great anticipation that I returned 5 hours later, and you can imagine my excitement upon finding the owl still there, albeit now facing a different direction. It's a Collared Scops Owl.

Who says only the early bird gets the worm? ... this Spanish Sparrow got a juicy worm and an insect all at the same time in searing desert heat during mid day - lucky bird.Moral of the Story: Be lazy and still be successful ... but face the heat!

The dove shots are all great, and while I don't have any to share, I finally tracked down the little guy in my yard who keeps waking me up in the morning and serenading me with his hoots each evening. He was way, way up high, but I snagged him with my 300 + 2x with (OOPS!) circular polarizer. It was dusk but I didn't think it was THAT dark! Luckily the IS allowed me to handhold at 1/30s allowing me to use ISO 1600 instead of 25600! Note to self - remove CIR-PLs from all lenses before I pack my lenses to come home. Now I need to get a better shot of him - tripod / Better Beamer will be at the ready for his next visit!